It is known in the art relating to linear ball screw drives to fixedly connect the ball nut to a moving member in order to move the moving member by the actuation of a ball screw that drives the ball nut. With such an arrangement, the rigid connection between the ball nut and moving member can cause excessive wear on the ball screw and premature failure of the ball nut.
In closure panel hemming operations large loads are applied by linear ball screw drives drawing upper and lower dies together to edge hem preformed metal panels. In such operations, there is a need to maximize ball screw life and reduce the failure rate of ball nuts used to move the dies.